A Stage for Cultural Exchange

Bangkok prepares to launch the brand new Asean Cultural Center. With the start of the Asean Economic Community less than five months away, Bangkok is once again underscoring its intention to become the hub of Asean with the opening on Friday of the first Asean Cultural Center.

Beijing Chosen to Host 2022 Winter Olympics

Members of the IOC, meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, announced the decision after a secret ballot, dealing a potential boon to the global winter sports industry but sparking outrage among activists and human rights groups who say the committee has rewarded China’s Communist Party during its strongest crackdown on dissent in decades.

Korean Professionals to Study in U.K. through Chevening Scholarships

Fourteen high achievers from various professions in Korea will commence a yearlong study in Britain in September through the Chevening Scholarships granted by the United Kingdom government. The scholarship, established in 1983, is a global program offered to candidates who have shown potential to be “future leaders, decision-makers and opinion formers” in diverse fields, such as academia, politics, business, media, religion and civil society.

Art of the State: Pyongyang Propaganda Posters to Be Exhibited in China

A set of North Korean propaganda posters is set to go on show in Beijing this week in a rare exhibition outside of the country. North Korea tour company owner Nicholas Bonner, a Briton, has found a way to put a selection of striking replica posters on show without falling foul of officials in the secretive state.

Social Justice on Social Media?

Hashtags around race like #icantbreathe #Blacklivesmatter found their way into many feeds, pushed themselves into wider view, and forced a reckoning. [...] African-American struggles have inspired and tactically informed anti-caste activism. But could Dalit-Bahujan Twitter exert a similar force, in India?

One Indian rapper is taking on corporate giant Unilever with an environmental protest song set to the tune of Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda.” Chennai-born rapper Sofia Ashraf partnered with the grassroots organizing campaign Jhatkaa to create the video “Kodaikanal Won't,” calling on the corporate giant to clean up its mess and pay restitution to workers of the thermometer factory that was responsible for a giant toxic waste dump in the Indian city.

Local Music Students Tour Europe as Part of the American Music Abroad 'Voices' Tour

Six students from Fryeburg Academy recently returned from "singing their way through Europe" during July. The tour was run through the auspices of the American Music Abroad company, which is based in New Jersey and now in its 40th year running such tours.

Opening Iran

While the nuclear accord will not change Iran immediately, it will allow for incremental changes in the country. It opens opportunities for greater people-to-people exchanges between Iran and the United States. Ultimately Iran’s gradual opening will allow what the Iranian regime fears the most; the loss of the United States as an enemy and its emergence as a source of inspiration.